Verdura: Path to the Sky
by Happypanda123
Summary: Just a serious version of the Verdura Leek. written by the boss
1. Chapter 1

It was a quiet Friday morning in the Verdura house. Most of the Occupants were still asleep save for two, a boy and a girl, who had woken up early to prepare breakfast. They quietly walked to and fro in the kitchen, gathering eggs and bacon from the refrigerator, pots and pans from underneath the stove and plates and cups from the cupboards. The way they were silent in their task and in sync with each others' movements showed that this was done in habit.

"Kyn, what would you like?" asked a tall male.

The girl who was beginning to crack eggs on a large bowl smiled. "I'd like a strawberry shake, a hamburger with fries and an apple pie."

If he wasn't so tired, Nick would've laughed at her reply. Shaking his head, the boy gave her a look. "You know what I mean, Kyn."

She giggled to herself before replying, "I'd like to practice on the pancakes today."

Nodding, the older teen set about preparing pancake mix. A large bowl similar to Kyn's and a box of pancake mix quickly appeared on the table before him.

"Alright let's get to work." he announced.

Minutes later, Nick handed the ready pancake mix to the younger teen and was starting on the next meal: Eggs and bacon. He smiled when he spotted a large pan already in place on the stove and sizzling with a bit of oil. There was no doubt that his cooking assistant had planned ahead today.

Kyn smiled when she heard a chuckle escape her boss's lips. She felt proud to be on top of things. Out of everyone in their family, she was the only one willing enough to help around the kitchen without the need to ask. It wasn't just out of duty as Nick's right hand woman, but also the urge to help her family. Plus, Kyn felt happy and content whenever she saw her boss's appreciative smile.

The two continued to work at a pace. Nick worked his magic and was soon filling plates with eggs and bacon. The sausages soon followed after. Kyn for her part had begun flipping pancakes into the air, watching them with critical and calculating eyes. Her skills in cooking had steadily improved in the past few months she had started to work in the kitchen.

Soon the two could hear the first sign of the famiglia waking up. Footsteps that padded down the stairs caught their ears as Nick took over Kyn's job. The young girl quickly gathered clean plates and began laying them on the dining table. Moments later, the first famiglia member to wake up walked into the dining room.

"Morning." the person greeted.

"Hey." greeted Kyn cheerfully as she finished placing the eating utensils.

Nick walked in carrying a plate overflowing with toast. He placed it down at the center of the table and turned to greet the girl. "Hey Ange."

The red head nodded in acknowledgement before taking a seat. The Verdura returned to the kitchen as Ange rubbed her right arm for warmth. Then with a smile she took a piece of toast and began her breakfast. Joining her soon was a brown haired boy wearing white long shorts and a loose teal shirt. An odd yellow tail twitched behind him as he approached the table.

"Mornin' Ange." he yawned.

The red-haired girl let out a 'Morning' through a mouthful of toast. This in turn made the boy laugh as he moved to take a seat.

"Hey Felix, that one's mine." spoke a voice behind the boy with a tail.

With a slight yelp of surprise, Felix moved aside to get a better view of the person that surprised him.

"Geez Lucian, don't sneak up on me like that." whined Felix upon recognizing the older teen.

The emotionless teen just shrugged nonchalantly before taking his respective seat. This somewhat made the monkey boy frown before giving his own shrug and taking his place at the table. Taking out his iPod from his pocket, he proceeded to grab a few pieces of toast while listening to music.

After the arrival of Nick and Kyn with additional food, two more of the Verdura Guardians entered the dining room. One was shorter than the other and was quietly making her way to her own seat. She was dressed in a simple blue jeans and white hooded jacket over a flaming red shirt. The older of the two who entered was fashioned in a black frilled skirt with matching dark blue jacket. Her brown hair was temporarily combed and tied in a stylish bun.

"Morning guys." she greeted with a smile.

"Morning Praizel." Nick grinned as he placed a bowl of sausages in front of her sister.

The youngest member of the Verdura, Shantel, mumbled out a quiet 'Morning everyone' before reaching for the plate of eggs. A round of greetings followed after as the people present got settled in. Soon the room was filled with joyful laughter and energetic conversations. Kyn and Nick were engaged in a conversation about grocery shopping while Praizel listened in quietly. Beside her, Shantel was enjoying her meal in peace along with Ange's silent mood. The red head seemed content with observing her family quietly as she ate.

Across the table, Felix was chattering happily with Lucian who just nodded in mild amusement. His eyes twinkled slightly when the younger male announced something about playing baseball later. When everyone seemed to quite down slightly, Praizel voiced out a question.

"Hey, where's Joyce?" Praizel ask as she took a bite out of her bacon.

Nick and Kyn looked at each other before shrugging. The two males at the opposite side gave their own shrug of bewilderment. It was Ange who decided to answer

"I saw her playing her DSi earlier, so I'm sure she'll be down soon."

Not a moment after that did the girl in question appear before them. Dressed in her PJ's still, she took a deep breath and shouted, "MORNING!! AHAHAHA!"

The gleefulness of her yell made everyone flinch. As always, Joyce's energetic greetings brought pain to their ears. When she stopped laughing, the girl jumped to her seat and began to pile her plate with breakfast. Her family gave her an equally loud greeting before resuming their activity.

"HEY! HEY! WHO'S GONNA WAKE UP MY USELESS MOTHER?" the hyper girl asked loudly, catching everyone's attention once more.

Now began a debate.

"It's Felix turn to do it." Praizel piped up.

"EH?!" the said boy cried out. "I thought it was Ange's!!"

"What the hell are you talking about? I did last, last, last time…"

"Yes, that was like ages ago." Felix replied.

"Well, how about Lucian?" Kyn suggested after a sip of her chocolate milk.

Heads turned to the silent teen reading the newspaper.

The boy shook his head. "I did it about 2 days ago."

"Shantel?" asked Kyn.

"Sorry I did mine yesterday." she said, resuming her eating.

"Don't look at me." Praizel waved her hands in front of her in a 'no-no' gesture. "I've already given up on waking her."

"AHAHAHA everyone's too scared to go!!" Joyce grinned happily.

"Hell yeah!" Felix admitted. "Last time I tried waking her I nearly got my tail chopped off!"

"And the last time _I_ did it I ended up outside in the garden." Ange grumbled.

Her memory of the previous experience with the Hail Guardian of the family was still fresh in her mind. It wasn't a good one. She ended up being not only tossed out the window, but also landing directly on top of an ant hill. Ange shuddered at that time. It took a full week to rebuild the garden from her 'explosive' anger and another week to recover from the ants' attack on her.

Kyn could see the paleness of her fellow Guardian's skin and prepared to do it herself. A hand stopped her before she could get up and her eyes turned to glance at Nick. The boss was the only one who hadn't said anything so it was suddenly clear to her that he was going to do it.

"Alright…" he called foreveryone's attention. "Since you all have a bit of issue with this task from now on I'll be the one waking her up."

Praizel, Felix and Ange gave sheepish grins and apologetic smiles. Nick returned them with a look of understanding. He should've had taken it upon himself to do the waking sooner. Turning to Kyn he gave her a few orders before walking out of the room.

The right hand woman worriedly watched him leave. Despite having knowledge of her boss's somewhat closeness to the Hail Guardian, she still felt a bit reluctant to allow him to go. Giving a sigh she returned to her meal with a prayer running through her head. She hoped her boss wouldn't be hurt too badly. Everyone who's entered Rinan's room, whether it was a close friend like Lucian or a daughter figure like Joyce, all ended up being harmed in a way.

"He'll be fine Kyn." Praizel assured her upon noticing the worried look.

"No he won't, ahahaha!" laughed Joyce. "Useless mother will slice him as soon as he enters."

A collective sweat drop fell upon the family members at her statement. That wasn't helping Kyn's worries.

Shantel shifted in her seat before speaking. "Rinan won't do something that bad."

"Yeah!" Felix Joined in. "He's the boss after all."

"Besides it's Nick's turn to do it." stated Ange while finishing up her eggs.

Lucian gave a small smile at Kyn before nodding for her to resume eating. With a bit of relief easing her mind the right hand woman continued with her breakfast. They were right, Nick's the boss of the family and Rinan wouldn't do something to the boss.

She hoped…

* * *

Dark brown eyes eyed the word 'R', 'I', 'N' plastered against a white door. Raising a hand, Nick knocked a few times and spoke.

"Rinan, breakfast is ready."

Silence answered back. Giving another knock he raised his voice higher.

"Rinan wake up! You'll miss breakfast and that's not healthy for you."

He waited patiently for a minute and when no sound came he went in.

Peeking into the darkened room, he stepped inside and closed the door. Nick walked cautiously forward with eyes alert. He'd gone to her room before, but he was still not used to all the traps she sometimes laid. If he wasn't too careful he might lose his feet or his head.

The Verdura boss wondered at times why he even bothered to wake this girl up. There was always the choice of just letting her sleep in. Why didn't he just take that?

Letting his eyes get used to the darkness, Nick proceeded forward and stopped at the side of the bed. He raised his hands and hesitantly shook the sleeping girl awake.

"Rin wake up." He said softly using a familiar nickname.

The girl stirred slightly. When she did not respond, the Verdura shook her again.

"Come on, wake up! Sleeping in isn't healthy."

This time the sleeping figure groaned and opened one eye to stare up at him. Her glare would've made him flinch away if it weren't for the dark room. Rinan continued to stare up at the teen hovering above her.

"Can you knock before you enter?" she asked bluntly.

Nick in turn sweat dropped.

"I did, but you wouldn't wake up."

The girl gave a tired sigh before grumbling to herself. "Give me five more minutes…"

She pulled her grey blanket over herself and turned the other way. Seeing her back to him, Nick sighed. He'd forgotten how hard it was to get this girl up every morning. And to think he said to everyone downstairs that he'd be the one waking this girl up from now on…

Not wanting to go against her wish for fear of a rebuke, he took a seat at the space beside her form. Rinan felt the urge to kick her boss off, but held it down. She might end up doing more than minor injury if she did. The force of her lazy kick as still powerful enough to break a bone if she wasn't too careful.

It wasn't even a full minute when Rinan decided to rise up. There was no point in sleeping now that her boss had waken her up.

"Alright, I'll be down in a bit." she said. "Just let me get dressed."

Smiling in victory, Nick quickly stood up and left. As the door closed, the Hail Guardian let herself fall back onto her bed.

The door swung open again. "Ri-"

"I'm not sleeping." she told her boss once more. "Just let me get dressed, geez."

Nick gave an apologetic grin before closing the door once more.

"He's so predictable." Rinan whispered.

* * *

"Nick, coffee." Rinan called out as soon as she entered the dining room.

The Verdura boss was by her side with a mug and coffee in hand as she took her seat. While he poured her coffee, Rinan took a moment to glance about the room.

Lucian was still at the table reading the newspapers with a nice cup of tea sitting idly in front of him. He gave a nod of greeting to her as their eyes met. Aside from that the table was empty save for a plate of blueberry muffins. She had missed breakfast with everyone today.

It didn't bother her much since she preferred being in a quiet and peaceful environment. Rinan considered being left alone as a blessing at times. She was one of the 4 guardians who found silence as a sort of sanctuary.

Taking a sip of her coffee she turned towards Nick. "So where are the others?"

The boy pulled a seat next to her. "Same places. Kyn is outside doing some katas I showed her earlier, Felix is with Joyce playing Halo 3, Praizel and Shantel are surfing the web and I think Ange's taken to watching Kyn outside."

"I see…." Rinan paused. "So what's the agenda for today?"

A grin slowly formed at the question. It wasn't a surprise to Rinan when Nick pulled out a familiar looking planner and began reading things off. She's seen this no more than a thousand times since she started living with the boy.

"We gotta shop for some food later, stop by the weapons shop in town for my FN P90 stock and then we gotta do some afternoon sparring. Gotta keep up with our training after all."

The girl nodded silently for him to continue, taking sips of coffee now and then. Her mind eventually wandered off as Nick's explanations grew long and detailed. She didn't mind listening to specific information, but the stuff he was going over were a bit boring. Half of the time the stuff he was saying went into one ear and back out the other. So the best thing she could do was to give half of her attention.

"And tonight you'll help me cook." Nick finished, putting down the planner.

"Hn."

Kyn arrived a moment later, bearing an exhausted smile. Judging by her slightly laboring breath, she was doing her martial arts rather quickly.

"Finished already?" asked Nick as he poured the girl a cold glass of water.

Kyn accepted the offered drink gratefully before downing it in one shot. "Yeah… that felt great."

"Don't over exert yourself Kyn." frowned the male teen. "You might get sick."

"Alright House Dad." the female teased as she made her way to the kitchen.

Both Rinan and Lucian chuckled at her nickname for the boss. It was fitting actually. Nick was always the one doing the cooking with an apron on and he's usually doing chores most of the time. He barely left time for any training now that his guardians were with him and so his role became that; a living house dad… taking care of 8 other people who were about around his age.

"When are we going to go shopping?" voiced Rinan, finally finishing her coffee.

She was immediately handed vitamins by Nick. The girl stared at it with brows raised. The Verdura boss stared in return, silently giving her that 'Take it, its good for you' type of look. Rinan shook her head before accepting them.

"There, happy?"

"Yep."

"You house dad, you…" the older teen grumbled. "So what time are we shopping?"

"In a bit." answered Nick.

"And the driver?"

The boss just shrugged. "You and Lucian should decide which car to drive and who will."

Rinan turned to her friend across the table. The silent male had finished his reading and was now currently finishing his tea. After a moment he spoke.

"I don't really care." he said. "You can drive my car if you want, Rin."

The girl grinned wickedly at his answer. Lucian look away, sweat dropping, wondering if it was a good idea to offer her his car. Those types of grins usually meant something ominous. He wondered if his car would be okay. Nick didn't notice the sun guardian's dilemma.

"On second thought…" Lucian began. "I'll take my car."

Rinan fumed before reluctantly nodding to take the van. When the two settled on who was driving, Nick stood up.

"Alright then, let's leave now!" he said standing up. "Kyn?"

"Yeah?" The Storm Guardian came in with a cookie in hand. "What's up?"

"Get everyone ready, we're going out shopping."

* * *

Rinan pulled up at the driveway quickly as Nick ran out of the side door in a hurry. The Guardians snickered to themselves at the way their boss was clawing at the front door trying to get in. They burst out laughing when Nick borrowed Kyn's weapon and pole vaulted into the wall rather then the window on the second floor.

"OH GOD! BWHAHAAHAHA!" Ange roared with laughter. "I-I knew he shouldn't have eaten that much! AHAHA!"

Felix held her up as he contained his own burst of humor. The shopping spree had ended with a great event. And as the two gathered behind the van to grab the grocery, Lucian parked his car beside them.

"Where's Nick?" Praizel worriedly asked as she got out.

It was Rinan who answered her as she opened the back door of the van. "He's over there being helped by Kyn. The poor moron crashed into the wall."

"How did he do that?" Shantel asked.

"Pole vaulted." cackled Ange.

All three girls turned towards the injured Verdura lying on the bushes.

"Oooh… My stomach." Nick moaned out loud.

"Hold on Nick! You're almost there." Kyn told him as she helped him up.

Rinan chuckled amusedly before grabbing a few bags of clothing. Her two companions, Felix and Ange were freely laughing out loud, never losing volume. Lucian stepped out of his own car to help with the grocery that his team was held for. He shook his head in dismay at Nick's weak moaning figure.

"I warned him not to join that eating contest." he said out loud.

"It's partly my fault too." the older Tay mumbled as she helped her sister carry a few more bags. "I shouldn't have cheered him on…"

As soon as the Verdura had settled in the living room and Nick properly treated, the phone rang. With Kyn busy looking after Nick and the others glued to the TV, Rinan reluctantly answered.

"Hello, this is the Verdura Famiglia; state your name and business quickly."

The line was quiet for a moment. Then with a jolt a very, very, VERY familiar voice rang out loud and clear, turning the females of the group an angry red.

"Rin-chan my love! I miss your voice!"

Rinan's anger flared as the others listened in. "MARIANO!!"

"Oh! You sound happy to hear me!" the Polpo voice sung.

Many of the guardians had stopped their activity. Nick was left moaning, Joyce had dropped her DSi, Felix's tail went stiff and even Ange was pulled out of her emo time. A call from the Polpo was always bad. No exceptions.

"KYAAH! IT'S HIM!!" Praizel cried out dropping her controller and jumping onto Lucian.

The surprised teen was left awkwardly trying to comfort the fashionista. What was even worst was that Shantel had jumped on to him as well, causing a very uncomfortable position. Two girls on him did not bode well…

Gritting her teeth Rinan tried to calmly speak. "What… Do you want?"

For the sake of acting responsible-- just this once-- she'll bear with him. Her boss was still out of commission and Kyn didn't look too well in taking responsibility. So she was the only option.

"A date of course!"

She could hang up now right?

"Bye, bye!" she cheerfully said.

Panic laced his voice as the Polpo pleaded for her to stop. "Alright, I'll get down to business; I need your clumsy boss on. Can I get him?"

"Oi, don't you disrespect our boss!" Kyn snapped.

Rinan sent her a quick appreciative thumbs up before answering Mariano. "He's rather sick right now. So call back later."

"WAIT!" Mariano called out. "In that case let's talk about it over dinner!"

"Nick! It's the flirt…" Rinan stated tossing the phone to the pain induced boss.

"Wah?" he grumbled.

Kyn lifted the phone to his ear before repeating what Rinan had said.

"Oh, uhh…" Nick began. "Hey Mariano? What do you need?"

Rather than a sweet and nice tone of a reply, the Polpo leader replied in monotone with a hint of resentment. "What I need is for you to listen up, clumsy. Make sure your guardians hear this too."

Nick nodded and forced himself back up while handing the phone to Rinan.

"Put it on speaker please." he ordered softly.

The hail guardian complied and hit a button on the receiver. A moment of silence instilled upon the room before Mariano spoke again.

"Your father contacted me earlier about some plans." the Polpo began. "All mafia allied to the Vongola family are to take temporary residence in Japan. There will be a large gathering for the Vongola 10th's first dinner party and all bosses are to attend."

Whispers of excitement rushed through Nick's family as the news got around. The idea of Japan plagued their minds like a sweet addictive chocolate. It was a wish come true for most of them seeing as how anime and manga ruled their hobbies.

Mariano grinned in satisfaction at their excitement before continuing. "The dinner won't start till next March so you'll have plenty of time to do whatever you'd like. Housing and transportations have been arranged and you lot are due to leave Italy by tonight so get packing. I've already sent all the necessary documents and airplane tickets."

"AND YOU LOSERS BETTER BE READY TO CRY!" shouted another male from the Polpo's side.

Felix instantly snapped out of his heavenly daydreaming and began seething with anger. "WHAT?! Well, fuck you! My famiglia will kick your arse anytime!!"

"Say what?! Felix! You monkey boy! Come say that to my face!"

"Oi, Felix, knock it off." warned Ange as she got up from her corner. "Don't start a fight."

"He just called us losers! Are you going to let him just do that?!"

"Its just words…" she reasoned.

Ignoring her, Felix stomped forwards drawing his weapon, Shantel lunged and held him off. The enraged rain guardian was about to smash the phone with one of his swords.

"I'll chop your face instead!!" Felix retorted.

"I'd like to see you try!" retorted the Polpo member.

"FELIX/FRANCELIN!" the bosses of both respective sides commanded.

The boys backed off immediately and muttered to themselves.

"Keep your men in line Mariano." Lucian spoke out with his body free to take in comfort.

"Yeah, yeah…" grumbled the Polpo leader. "Anywho, make sure you all don't miss your flight. You have about a few hours till the appointed time."

"Roger." Nick replied settling his head down on Kyn's lap. "We'll get started soon."

"Good! And now, Rin-chan!" called Mariano in a lovey-dovey voice. "About your housing…"

The line went dead.

Rinan stood up from the couch and clapped her hands together. "You heard the flirt. Get packing, we're leaving for Japan!"

There was a collective shout of "Right!" as the Verdura famiglia rushed to get ready.

This Japan trip was going to be so much fun.

* * *

3 hours later found the Verdura unloading their luggage from taxi cabs. They merrily strode through the airport's many sliding doors and walked up to get their stuff loaded. As they chattered about happily waiting in line, Nick gathered his storm, hail and sun guardians together. In a brief meeting before they got the chance to stow away their larger luggage, a decision was reached to break the group into 2.

There were complaints about wanting to get some sight seeing and shopping done in the airport before they left. So in order to solve this Nick gathered the shoppers into one group and had Kyn lead another. Lucian and Rinan along with Ange and Shantel grouped with Kyn while Nick led the remaining guardians around the airport.

"Make sure you guys get back here before 9pm." reminded Kyn as she grab hold of her boss' hand-carry bag.

She glanced about the groups and sighed. Kyn and most likely Lucian and Rinan were a bit worried about this arrangement. They wanted to voice out their disapprovals and reasons, but seeing their friends' warm smiles stopped them. The three couldn't bring themselves to mess up their famiglia's fun.

Shaking her head, Kyn he gave her boss a pat on the head. "Lead them around safely, boss. And stick close."

Rinan gave a nod and added. "Don't talk to strangers, Nick, you know what happened last time."

"Boss, take care of my big sis." Shantel said before taking her place beside Lucian.

The Verdura boss rubbed his neck sheepishly and nodded respectively. "Alright, sorry for leaving our stuff with you guys."

"It's not a problem." Kyn assured him. "Just have fun."

"Yeah, let's go!"

Patience was thin with Nick's group. No sooner had Felix said those words did Praizel and Joyce drag their boss away. Shantel watched with a small smile and waved at her poor boss. A silent 'good luck' was given and received.

"Which gate were we again?" asked Ange as she returned with drinks for the baggage holders.

"Gate B." answered Lucian taking his Latte with a thanks.

Kyn and Rinan took theirs and began following Shantel towards the gate. Ange and Lucian fell into steps besides them and the 5 soon entered a mutual comforting silence. The only things plaguing their minds were worries for their friends and boss.

God knows what'll happen to that group….

* * *

Shopping has always been fun for Praizel. Seeing new stores open at a mall was exciting and trying out the new fashion trends was a must. Her life wouldn't be complete without exploring whatever stores were available anywhere near her. And what made it more enjoyable was her boss's company.

Her right arm was linked with Nick's as they both ventured off towards gift shops. Joyce and Felix had wandered off a few minutes ago leaving them to travel on their own.

Praizel was more than content with having a shopping partner at the very least. It may not be required since she was saving up for something else in Japan, but his company was more than appreciated.

"So where we going?" Nick asked as he let himself be dragged along.

The girl tilted her head to the side in thought. What was there to do? Scanning around, all she could see so far were the previous gift shops they just passed. Nothing looked interesting to them in there.

"I don't know…" she said allowing him to keep a more comfortable pace with her. "What do you think we should do?"

A low growl from the boy's stomach answered her question. Nick had a decency to blush in embarrassment. The girl giggled slightly.

"Alright, that settles it." she pointed towards 'Dunken Donuts'. "Well grab a snack for now."

Nodding in agreement the two went and ordered them some food. Behind them a certain Rain-flame wielder was currently at work.

* * *

There was nothing in this world more thrilling to do then to pickpocket. That's right! Stealing cash from the rich and spending it on the poor, Felix was the one to do that. Snooping about the crowded path of the airports, the mischievous teen picked out the rich with ease and had robbed them quietly. The treasures he took ranged from expensive watches to wallets full of wonton cash. Priceless rings and rare handhelds never escape his snake like hands.

"That's another one." grinned the monkey boy. His hand thumbed through his catch secretly before moving on.

He casually bumped into a business man and discreetly slipped his hands at the back of his pocket. His thoughts were filled with joyous pleasure and not one of regret when luck struck again. Pay day baby! The man was filthy rich.

"This should help the family out." he smiled happily.

The boy wasn't doing this for just himself; the stuff he stole went directly to the Verdura bank. Of course he kept half of what he stole in his personal account, but the other half went to his family.

He wasn't that greedy after all.

Felix wove through person to person, stealing whatever he could. And when he felt his pockets weigh him down he took a short break to transfer his load. A minor detour in the bathroom and he was feeling fresh and light.

"Now, whose next?"

Scanning around, he spotted a flood of people coming down one area. With a grin he quickly disappeared in the mass of crowds that went his way. Oh how fun it was to pick pocket.

Joyce spotted him along the way, but didn't stop to call his attention. She had her own agenda after all and with little time to do it.

* * *

Attention was all she wanted. Her face lit up in pleasure as eyes focused on her. The world she dreamed both night and day constantly awarded her with unwavering strength. While the weak cowered from their eyes she did not. Being in the center of people's thoughts and looks was her favorite hobby. She was in her natural element.

"HIIIII!!" she let out running freely without hindrance.

Joyful eyes glimpsed faces-- many with curiosity and some with dislike-- and the beautiful darkened sky above. Her heart warmed when she slowed to a pace.

Her attention was fixed on the night sky hanging above her, soothing and calming her burning energy. Here she was, standing alone amongst passing strangers; a lost lamb among a forest of sheep. She felt unusual. Peace had made its way toward her in such an odd time.

Taking relaxing steps she sat herself on an empty seat near a donut shop. Joyce couldn't take her eyes off the black sky just yet. The twinkling stars that dotted the sky had drawn her attention away, dousing the bursting flame within her. How strange it was for her to stay so silent.

"What do those remind me of?" she wondered to herself.

Taking her DSi out, she took a picture for safe keeping. Odd as it was. Then her mind soon wondered off to think. Her question nagged at her. What did night remind her of?

When a plane suddenly caught her eyes she smiled.

That's what it reminded her of. It won't be long for her to be joining those stars in the sky. In just an hour she will be flying above the clouds, let those shining stars watch her. She was in her own world where her dream was attention and her desire to be in the center of everyone's eyes.

So until she can be up there, where millions can watch, she'll continue her dream down here where attention was plenty. A smile grew upon her face as Joyce jumped to her feet. She caught sight of 2 familiar men in blue and turned.

"Over here Mr. Policeman!" she yelled out with a wave.

With eyes on her, Joyce took off. She ran and yelled freely with her flame burning bigger once more. Attention is what she craves and down here that is what she gets.

* * *

Food was a man's best friend and for a growing boy like Nick it was the best medicine. Praizel had learned this quite well while in his company. Seeing as how the boy was digging onto his pile of donuts and drink she smiled. This was actually quite relaxing and it gave her sometime to think of where to go next.

Checking her watch she frowned though. It seemed like they had spent well over 20 min just ordering and eating here.

"You're not hungry Praiz?" Nick wondered, taking a gulp of his Dr. Pepper.

The girl shook her head and smiled. "No, I'm just checking the time."

She took a bite of her own chocolate creamed donut before gazing up at him. Nick smiled in return before blushing at her next action.

The younger girl had wiped off a crumb from his cheeks without much thought. This proved to give her something to tease about, however, when she saw the pink face.

"Hey now are you blushing, boss?" she questioned knowingly.

Her grin widened when the boy stuttered and tried to hide his embarrassment with his drink. The way his eyes wandered the other way made Praizel giggle with pride. She had totally made him flustered.

"W-well, you did that s-so suddenly so of course.. I… am.." Nick mumbled.

Praizel stifled another giggle before taking another bite of her donut. By now the boy in front of her was finishing his last piece and pretty soon the two would be off. But until then Praizel would remain quiet and just relax in his presence.

The young girl enjoyed this alone time she got with her boss just as much as she liked spending time with her friends. It gave her a chance to develop a bond with him. She and her sister were still fairly new, having been brought into the family no less than 10 months ago.

People would think that by now a strong bond of friendship had been established, but that was not so. While she may have a friendly tie with her boss and most of the guardians… they weren't that strong. The only person close to her and Shantel was Joyce; a fellow classmate at school and a long time friend.

With that knowledge in mind a delicate frown crossed her lips.

"What's wrong?" asked Nick, sipping the last of his drink.

The teen had taken an observation of his current companion. Praizel had donned on a frown after a few long minutes of silence. Something must be bothering her.

"Nothing…" she said. "It's nothing."

When Nick didn't look too believing, Praizel flashed him a smile. She didn't want him to know what she was thinking at that moment. It was just something minor after all.

"You sure?" Nick prodded.

"I'm fine, just wondering about where to go next." she told him.

At the explanation, the male teen nodded slowly. Even if there was a small nagging feeling in his gut, he'll drop his probing.

Praizel mentally sighed. Her time alone with him would soon come to an end she felt saddened by that. She still wanted to get to know her boss a bit more before joining up with the others. It was rare to get this type of time with him after all. Nick was usually too busy at home and always hung out with Kyn or Rinan the most.

There was more envy than jealousy when it came to them. She wanted get close to the others just like how Lucian was close to Rinan and Kyn to Nick. Her head hit the table without thinking.

Great… now she was feeling depressed.

A gentle hand patted her head affectionately causing Praizel to look up. Nick smiled and pointed to a store across from them.

"How about I buy you something over there?" he asked while retracting his hand.

It took a moment for Praizel to register what he doing. Her boss was trying to cheer her up. And who was she to turn down a free gift.

She smiled back at him. "I'd like that."

The two left the donut shop a minute later. Their next destination was at another shop for souvenirs. Agreeing that they had only a few minutes to explore it, the two set out hand in hand. Keeping each other company for a little longer both crossed their thoughts.

One was appreciative of the others presence, while the other was happy with earning a bond. What little time they have left, they'll enjoy to the fullest.

* * *

"Where are those idiots…?" grumbled Rinan to herself.

It was nearing 9 p.m. and their plane was due to arrive any minute. Nick and his group were not back just yet and this greatly put the Hail Guardian on edge. Her feelings were shared with the people in her group. Their nervousness was clear as day to her.

The right hand woman of Nick was trying to keep calm by twisting her 3rd latte in circles. Next to her Lucian and Shantel were playing cards to pass the time. Glancing to her right side, Rinan found Ange twitching ever so slightly in her seat. They were all clearly getting impatient.

Rinan tried to contact Nick and the others again, but still no luck. All 4 had either shut their cell-phones off or had put it on silent. That was bad….

"Alright, I think we should go look for them." Kyn decided.

The group nodded in agreement. Time was ticking away and they couldn't wait for them any longer. The best course of action was to search while they still could. This would help speed things up and hopefully allow them to get back to their flight in time.

Gathering their belongings they headed down to the main plaza of the airport in hopes of finding their comrades.

* * *

Nick was lost.

Terribly lost.

On their way to Gate B, Nick was separated from Praizel. A large crowd had forced them apart and before they could find each other the Verdura boss had gone farther down a different path.

Nick panicked slightly at being left alone. This wasn't the first time he had gotten lost and yet…

"Okay, what do I do in this situation?" he asked himself.

The first thing that came into mind was his breathing. He couldn't think straight if his heart was beating so fast and his mind all clouded with worry. Clearing his thoughts and allowing himself to calm down was what he should do.

Taking deep breathes he leaned against a wall. Allowing a moment to clear his thoughts, Nick glanced around casually. When he got his anxiety down a notch he proceeded to go over what his tutor and Hail Guardian had told him.

"The first thing I should do is ask for help."

His mind went blank.

Help? How can ask for help when he can't even find the words to describe what he needed help on!! A 'I need help finding my friend' was not the best thing to ask. He had to be specific. To think his training in overcoming this part of his fault was for nothing….

It was fruitless! He was still Nick, the same person who's gotten lost occasionally and needed a chaperone where ever he went.

"I'm so screwed." Nick slid down and allowed himself to rest his head upon his knees.

Oh how he felt like Ange right now. Going emo over the fact that he was probably going to miss the flight to Japan was not usually like him. Instead, he would be bawling his eyes out and crying desperately to try and draw help. It worked wonders once…

A tap to the head brought Nick out his depression. Looking up he found a girl with dark black hair with red streaks and indigo eyes staring down at him.

"ちょっとそこ,ぜそんなに悲しい? (Hey there, why so sad?)" she said.

Nick blinked rapidly before straightening back up. He was speaking to a Japanese!

"K-konnichiwa!" he stuttered with an awkward bow.

The girl let out a giggle.

"It's fine; I can speak English quite fluently." she said catching his attention.

He took a moment to look at girl fully. She was wearing black slacks and a black vest over a short sleeved shirt. Around her neck was a stylish black tie with a design he could barely make out. Being aware of his staring the boy averted his eyes.

"W-well, umm.. Do…" Nick was having a hard time forming words. "Do you need something from me?"

At his own question a realization dawned on him. He was speaking to a stranger! That was something that Rinan had told him before he left. Not good… this was not good.

Before he could excuse himself from her, a manila folder was thrust into his hand gently. The girl spoke once more catching his attention.

"My name is Cheri and I'm your famiglia's personal Japanese Tutor, Nick Verdura." she smiled up at him.

"Huh?"

A laugh followed his intelligent reply. "You're very funny Nick."

The teen was confused. Who sent this girl?

"Your father sent for me." Cheri answered the silent question. She took to standing next to him. "I'm assigned to tutor your family in my language as well as provide you with information about my country."

"Ah… I see." Nick was starting to get it now. And deep down he felt himself relax ever so slightly. He guessed it had to do with 'help' arriving at his door once more.

"I'll begin teaching you how to speak and write my language just as soon as we get on board the plane." she told him. "So how about we go and find your guardians?"

At the mention of his family the boy nodded his head vigorously. By now Nick was sure they were furious with his lateness. Getting there as quickly as possible was his top priority now.

"Lead the way Cheri."

The girl smiled and hurriedly made her way towards Gate B with Nick right behind her.

* * *

"Lucian!" Kyn called out. "Any luck?"

The sun guardian shook his head. "Nick wasn't in the bathroom from my side."

"Praizel and Joyce weren't in the women's either." Ange reported, panting slightly. "Really, I can't even spot Joyce! She's usually the easiest one to find."

Joining the gathering group was Rinan. Kyn noticed the calm look she was giving them and decided to speak first.

"Did you have luck finding anyone, Rinan?" Kyn asked.

The trio looked at her hopefully.

"Nope." was the girl's grand answer.

The group face faulted. That was so unexpected.

Shaking off their disappointment they got back up. This was bad. It was already 9pm and the plane was sure to have arrived by now. If they didn't find them quick then bye-bye Japan for today.

"HEY!!"

All present guardians perked at the call and turned behind them. Making their way towards them were Joyce, Praizel and Shantel.

Relief flooded back into the worried group. At least they found two of their missing friends. Rinan and Ange quickly reprimanded them.

"Didn't we say to be here before 9?" Rinan said in annoyance.

"If you guys take this long again, then no more shopping or wandering the next time." Ange stated in finality.

Joyce didn't think much of the threat and so just shrugged it off. Praizel on the other hand flinched at their promise of restricted freedom as well as the tones they'd used.

"So where's Felix and Nick?" questioned Lucian.

Kyn automatically answered for Felix. "He's pick pocketing behind us."

The entire guardians looked for their monkey friend and sweat dropped. Felix was indeed behind them and he was shamelessly pick pocketing a poor girl.

"FELIX!"

Kyn's unexpected shout made the thief jump. His heart was beating like a machinegun at the surprise. When he spotted his family he groaned. He hurriedly went to them.

"Geez, Kyn, way to break my cover." Felix growled lowly. "Almost got caught."

"But you didn't." Kyn said with a relieved grin.

"Felix." Rinan cut in. "Have you seen Nick?"

The boy shook his head no. "I haven't bumped into him at all. I thought he was with Praizel?"

Everyone turned towards the fidgeting girl.

"We got separated from this stupid crowd." she explained. "I tried searching for him before going back, but I managed to find Joyce instead."

"YEP! I was playing limbo with the cops!" the hyper girl stated with a large grin.

No one commented on that. They did not even want to know what she did to get the cops to play limbo with her. That question will be saved for later.

"Oh man! We're gonna miss our flight." Ange groaned.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Felix as he carefully stashed away his collection.

The older teens sighed. It looked like they were going to miss their plane.

"I'll stay here and get on another flight with Nick." Kyn spoke out suddenly while she looked around for her boss. "Lucian can take temporary charge over the others while Nick and I are away. So just take this flight and we'll meet you all there."

Everyone took a moment to think it over. It was reasonable enough. This way most of the family wouldn't have to miss their flight. Giving each other nods they began to collect their stuff. It was the interference of Shantel that held them back however.

"Hold on" she said. "He's over there."

Felix spun and spotted them. "Hey, she's right! Nick's… Oh! He's with a girl!" he commented in delight.

Heads jerked for the 3rd time that night. And when they confirmed their leader's location they backed away from Rinan. A dark aura had suddenly enveloped the girl. They had a suspicion that it might have to do with the appearance of the girl by Nick's side, but they weren't too sure. The girl was just glaring silently.

"Hey guys!" Nick called out.

When the running duo finally met up with the group, Rinan made her move. A resounding 'thwak' caught everyone's attention.

"You're late." Rinan said in monotone.

Wincing in pain, Nick nursed his throbbing head. "I-I didn't mean to. I was lost-- what can you expect?"

Before the two could start an argument Kyn butted in. "Anyways whose she, Nick?"

The girl standing beside the boy waved at the group in a friendly manner.

"Ah, she's--"

"SHIT!" cried out Ange, surprising everyone. "You guys! Last call for flight J209! Isn't that our plane?!"

Dead silence caught everyone. Panic stricken once more Nick did the only thing he could think of.

"RUN FOR IT!" he cried out as he grabbed his backpack from Kyn and dashed away from the group.

Cries and groans were left in his wake as his right hand woman and Rinan chased after him.

"YOU IDIOT! THAT'S THE WRONG WAY!" shouted the Hail guardian.

"Nick come back here!"

Back at the group Cheri sighed. She turned to address the on-looking Verdura Guardians.

"Well, their goes your guy's flight."

Sad nods answered her. They surely wouldn't make it in time now.

* * *

"We ended up taking a private Jet." Praizel said as she looked at her boss worriedly.

Nick sat at the very far end of the plane looking depressed and withdrawn. The people near him were Kyn and Lucian who were trying to cheer him up. Sitting a little away from the small group was Rinan who was looking out the window in boredom. The others were off on their own private activity. Joyce sat next to Praizel enjoying her DSi and Shantel was with Ange and Felix who was talking excitedly to Cheri.

The Verdura famiglia were currently riding a private Jet that Rinan had manage to get them. Due to her connections in the mafia, finding a jet was done in no time. What was even better was that it was free of charge and had cool stuff in it. There were VIP couches lining one area and a small bar near the cockpit. An entertainment lounge came was spread in the middle and at the back was the bathroom and staff cabins.

"So Cheri…" Ange began. "How long are you planning to stay with us?"

"Well, as your tutor, I'll be staying with you from now on." the girls smiled. "I was under orders to not only teach you all Japanese, but provide extra support for the Family. So I hope we can get along."

"Of course!" the bazooka wielder nodded enthusiastically. "Welcome aboard the Verdura Famiglia, Cheri."

Kyn walked over to them and signaled the entire family to introduce themselves properly. It was customary for them to give a proper introduction when someone new joined their family. Being second in command, Kyn was the first to go up.

"Pleasure to have you Cheri." she greeted. "My name is Kyn Skylar, the Storm Guardian of the Verdura. I'm 14 years old and I love to read."

The girl passed the intro to Rinan next.

"The name's Rinan He, Hail Guardian of Verdura, 16 and likes to sleep."

Following the New Zealand girl was Lucian.

"Lucian Cielo, age 16, Sun Guardian and a fan of baseball." the tall teen bowed politely in respect. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Cheri returned the gesture.

"Felix Hisora here!" Cheri turned towards the grinning boy whose tail shook excitedly. "I'm the Verdura Rain Guardian and pickpocket extraordinaire. Still 15 and single." he joked with a smile.

"YAY! AHAHAH." Joyce rocked back in forth with her never ending smile. "I'm Rinan's daughter, Joyce Green and Verdura's own Lightning Guardian!"

"?" A questioning look was tossed at the Hail Guardian.

"Don't worry about." said Rinan with a casual wave.

Turning back to Joyce, the tutor prompted her to continue.

"I'm 15 and I LOVE TO REEAAAD AHAHAAH!!!!!" She nudged the girl next to her. "Your turn!"

"Hi, My name's Praizel Tay and that's my sister, Shantel." The girl waved towards the girl sitting near Cheri. "I'm currently 15 and the Verdura Famiglia's Mist Guardian. My favorite hobby is shopping and I hope we can do that sometime together."

Praizel finished her intro with a friendly smile.

A tug brought Cheri's attention to Shantel. "Hello, as my sis had said, I'm Shantel Tay and my position is the Snow Guardian. I'm currently 14 and my hobby is reading."

_Seems we have quite a few bookworms._ Cheri mentally noted.

"And of course." Ange stepped up and politely nod at the tutor. "I'm Ange the Cloud Guardian of the family. I'm 14 at the moment and my hobbies are playing games, reading manga/comics and of course texting."

With a smile of her own Cheri properly introduced herself. "My full name is Cheri Yange"

"Hi Cheri!" The family greeted with a pleasant laugh.

"You guys are quite fun people aren't you?" she giggled. "Anywho, I'm 14 and currently your tutor in Japanese as of today. My flame is that of mist and cloud. And I enjoy painting while listening to music."

As the introduction ended most of the Verdura welcomed their new family member with open arms. And Lucian couldn't help, but let a small smile to play along his lips. The thoughts of a past long ago resurfaced.

"I wonder how you guys are doing." he mumbled to himself.

"Thinking about your Ninja Famiglia?" Rinan quietly asked.

There was a long silence between them. Lucian turned to watch the darkness outside before finally replying. "You can say that…"

"Ever regret joining this Family?" The Hail Guardian whispered.

Taking a look around Lucian shook his head. "Not one bit."

Sure he missed his comrades at his old family, but he could live with that. It wasn't like they were gone from him. Lucian was sure that he'd be meeting his old comrades soon. So it wasn't much of regret to him. They were still his family even if he was with a different one now.

_Kaitlin, Ludwigan, Milly-- everyone… _He thought to himself. _I'm coming home._

**Dead Author's notes:**

Eh... Nick here those of you wondering why I had to write this story and not posting the next chapter for the other one is because... T_T Gah.. I was just uh... Let's just say the head/dead author came out of her room, raised a chair over her head looking evil... The easiest explanation is that I took a good bonk on the head and got knocked out for awhile -! But I got this story rolling and well. The head/dead author ran away for some reason, she'll be back tho ^^; We're trying to track her down, and we had to pass the Rain fight to Reborn22, yes very sorry about that, we're looking for her don't worry! Oh yes, we have recently got a mail from her regards to the Rain fight's omake, so we're using that to find her. Wish us luck!

Kyn: The K N+J R is our team name (Kyn Nick+Joyce Rin), the head/dead made it up since Nick said it should be KHR related. and so she made that up and allow me to explain the reason behind her actions N+J the idiot are in the middle, yes.

Nick: ...HEY! T_T

Joyce: ...I'M NOT STUPID! I'M USELESS!

Nick (sub writer), Kyn (now head writer) and Joyce (editor) - Team of K N+J R

(Thanks to Felix's creater for writing his part.)


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey watch it!"

"Ha! I'm beating you so far."

"NO, you are not; I refuse to lose to a girl!"

"I'm not just some girl; I'm the girl who can kick your butt in video games."

Two hyperactive Verdura members were in front of the giant screen TV provided in their private jet and testing their video gaming skills. From the beginning of the flight, these two were battling each other to prove who the best video gamer would be.

BOOOM! The TV screen then brightened as there was an explosion that had occurred during the game, declaring who the winner was

"Muahahha, everyone should bow down to me as their new video game queen!" Joyce exclaimed hyperactively as she dropped her video game controller and began to gloat in front of her opponent's face

"You were just lucky that time!" Felix retorted angrily

"So you were saying that I was lucky the last 4 times I beat you in a row?"

"I know you cheated! Let's go for another rematch!" Felix grunted with a competitive look. Clearly his pride had been hurt, since he had not only been beaten by Joyce once, but more than ten times actually, in the same video game! One of his favorite hobbies was playing video games, so anyone who dared to challenge him usually saw the side of him that wasn't his usual self.

"Bring it on, ape-boy." The hyperactive girl grinned proudly

"Hey hey! I'm part monkey, not an ape! Apes don't have tails" The monkey tailed boy retorted back furiously punching in the controls of his video game controller

"Are these two normally that energetic?" Cheri asked while watching them.

"Yup, this is what normally happens in the Verdura family." Kyn stated "Get used to being around very strange and diverse people," she smirked.

"What fun would it be if we had only boring people in our family?" Nick added while added to the conversation.

For the time being in the jet, each of the Verdura family members were all occupied with several different activities. There was Joyce and Felix fighting it out in video games, and Lucian sitting in a seat near the window staring out into the skies contemplating. Nick and Kyn had been animatedly chatting with Cheri, getting to know her better. Praizel had been silently, listening to the conversation between Nick, Kyn, and Cheri. Shantel had been keeping to herself, reading a book, not uttering a single word ever since she introduced herself to their new Japanese tutor. Ange had been also watching the video game battle, chuckling at how competitive her two family members were.

Though, there was one person who was not seen somewhere in the main room of the jet.

"Where is Rinan?" Cheri asked looking around the room.

"Oh, she's in another private room in the jet," Kyn answered. "most likely talking to the people that she has connections with… and setting up the arrangements of where we're going to be staying at."

"Where are we going to be staying at?" Praizel wondered aloud, speaking out for the first time during the conversation .

Kyn shrugged. "Who knows, who knows, as long as there's no bugs or else Ange will freak." She sweat dropped, remembering the incident when several cockroaches invaded their house and Ange nearly blew them up with her bazooka.

"Have you ever met with the Vongola family before?" Cheri questioned Nick.

"Uh—no, not really, all I know is that they're the most powerful family in the mafia alliance so far…" Nick responded. "I can imagine that their boss is some really tough dude with extremely powerful guardians" he chuckled nervously.

"Calm down Nick," Praizel smiled to him. "I'm sure it'll be alright, the Vongola are most likely very friendly people."

The Verdura boss gulped and put up a smile. "Yeah I suppose so, though I heard their boss is around the same age as me, along with their guardians."

Kyn couldn't help but think '_Who knew that such a powerful mafia family could be run by even individuals as young as us… though it's not often that one meets a high ranking family so that's nice.'_

BOOOM!!!! That very familiar TV explosion sounded again, meaning that a winner had been decided.

"NOOOO!" Felix sulked as his face turned pale

Ange was laughing her head off and pointing her finger at Felix. "Never underestimate the power that girls have!"

"D-darn you Joyce!" the rain Verdura shook his fist at his opponent.

"You shall bow down to the queen of video games, peasant!" Joyce said in a superior royal tone.

* * *

Lucian had been not paying attention to the rambunctious group but was instead thinking about certain things… it had been several years since he had last seen his Ninja famiglia. He hadn't really kept touch with them for that time, but he still deeply cared about them. Thoughts that ran through his mind were: How much have they changed? Would they still be the same family they were the last time he saw them? Would they be happy to see him? How much have they gotten stronger after all of these years?

The questions running inside his head were endless, though he was really anxious and looking forward to seeing the Ninja. His expression, of course, did not reveal his true emotions, as he always had that serious look.

"Guys, I'll be in Japan soon" he muttered, concealing his smile.

* * *

Rinan had been inside one of the jet's private rooms after the formal introductions. She preferred a quiet environment with no chaos, which was why she chose to be isolated from the rest of her famiglia. All of the connections and arrangements had already been made, so there was nothing else for her to do but lay on the bed let her mind drift…

This room wasn't exactly perfect, since it did not block out all of the sounds coming from the main room from the other loud famiglia members.

She could hear the shouts from Joyce, the angry remarks from Felix, and the chuckling from those who were watching them.

"Please let this jet crash…" she groaned as if she was having a big migraine. The Hail Guardian looked at the GPS screen that was placed on one of the room's wall and saw how much further and longer it would be until they had reached Japan.

* * *

"Hey, how much longer until we get to Japan?" Praizel spoke out loud.

"Uh- according to what the GPS screen says…" Kyn responded, peering at the screen on one of the walls "we have about an hour left."

"Yeah! Another hour to kick your butt you primate!" Joyce cackled eager to play more video games

"I detest how you make up these nicknames for me." Felix glared at his opponent "Just because I have a tail doesn't mean that I'm a Neanderthal or an ape."

In the midst of the two arguing members, a certain noise made them all go quiet—it was the growl of a certain somebody's stomach.

"S-sorry guys," Nick blushed, embarrassed. "Guess it's been a while since I last ate," he added with a slight chuckle.

"It's okay," Praizel managed to hide her snigger. "It has been a while since we've had a bite, and I don't think that donuts can keep someone full for a long time."

"So what's there to eat?" Ange asked everyone.

While the family was discussing about the matter of obtaining food, Lucian had been walking around the jet looking for something edible for everyone. He came back to the main room with a bag of something

"Hey everyone," he said aloud. "I found something we could eat."

"Really what is it?" Felix's and Nick's eyes lit up.

The sun guardian walked closer to his family members and showed them what was inside the bag

"How about some cup ramen? We just need the hot water and we've got an instant meal!"

* * *

"You're a life saver thanks man!" Felix patted Lucian on the back.

"Good job," Nick nodded approving while grabbing the contents of the bag.

"Boys… they only need food to keep them happy…" Kyn mumbled.

* * *

It had taken 10 minutes to find a pot of water and to warm it up, a task that took a lot of trouble since no one knew where anything was in the jet. The Verdura family, though not showing it, was actually happy that their blundering boss went to the wrong terminal, thus making them miss their flight. If they actually had gotten to their flight on time, it would have been a boring plane ride since they would have had to restrain themselves from being so loud.

The boys had been happily slurping their noodles and soon after, it was all finished. The girls were eating with grace, not slurping as loudly as the boys were.

"You know we should have cup noodle more often for dinner." Joyce suggested.

"No, no we should not!" Nick rejected the idea. "Cup noodles should only be eaten once in a while and in an emergency, since it has so many unhealthy ingredients… I'm always happy to cook healthy, nutritious meals for everyone." he smiled, eating his noodles.

"Hey, shouldn't we give Rinan some noodles too?" Cheri uttered to everyone.

Suddenly the mood around the room was no longer cheery, but grew solemn.

"I-I'm not going to knock on her door no way!" Ange furiously shook her head. "She might throw me out of the plane window, and I probably won't end up on a garden this time"

"Nuh uh no, she gets easily annoyed by me." Felix declined.

"I already had to knock on her door several days ago," Lucian muttered, his expression still unwavering. He knew that Rinan was a person who did not want to be disturbed. And how the consequences could be dire to whomsoever does so

"I'm not going to give my mother food, she'll just reject it!" Joyce stated loudly.

Kyn got up from where she was sitting at and was about to head to Rinan's room.

"Wait, I'll go," Nick put his hand on her shoulder and put his cup of noodles on the coffee table while grabbing a new one. "She didn't do anything to me this morning, so I'm sure she won't do anything now." he gave his family an assuring smile .

"What is this, Déjà vu?" the right hand woman pointed out as she sat on the couch again .

"Huh?" Cheri had a quizzical look on her face.

"Well basically…" Praizel started explaining, "Everyone is always afraid to wake up Rinan because she can be uh- a bit testy at times." the mist guardian put up a shy smile.

"A bit?!" Felix exclaimed. "How about a lot!"

"Yeah… this is like what happened this morning when no one wanted to wake her up and Nick volunteered to do so too." Kyn also added.

"Nobody ever wants to go wake up my useless mother." Joyce energetically said.

All of these comments about the Verdura hail guardian made the tutor feel a bit awkward.

'_Is this person really that terrifying_?' Cheri mentally wondered.

* * *

Rinan knew that someone was coming to her door, since she was able to listen to their not so quiet conversation. It didn't bother her one bit of how the family thought about her and was pleased to know that they feared her. The family members sincerely did care about her, and being afraid of her dark aura was a way of showing their care.

Nick walked towards the room without a single feeling of regret or nervousness because he knew that nothing would happen to him. After all, Rinan wouldn't do a single thing to ruin their expensive jet.

Knock knock…

Anticipating the Verdura boss' presence, Rinan opened the door without delay and looked at him with her usual apathetic expression.

"What is it?"

"I –uh - I just wanted to see how you were doing and if you wanted anything to eat." The boss held out the ramen noodle cup. "Want some? We made extras."

"No thanks, I wouldn't ever want to eat that weird tasting stuff." she replied. "Anything else you want?"

"Well it looks like you're doing well inside your room, so I'll just leave you be and let you know when we're landing." Nick gestured in a friendly way. "You're welcome to come out to the main room anytime you want to."

"It's okay, I like it in here." the hail guardian then shut the door, going back into her private domain.

Nick shrugged his shoulders and walked back to where the rest of his famiglia were at.

"Anybody wants this?" he held up the noodle up that had been meant for Rinan.

"Me, me, me!" Felix waved his hand in the air.

"Dude, you had two already."

"So? If nobody wants it I'll take it."

"You're not a monkey… you're a pig!"

"Hey! I find that offensive!"

Nick sat down again chuckling at how the family was actively interacting with one another. He knew that they were not only just mafia members, but close friends too. This sort of usual relations among each other was what kept them so closely bonded.

* * *

When the jet landed at their destination, everybody had already gathered their belongings, ready to step foot in the foreign country. Each of the Verdura family made their way down the steps, which began at the exit of the jet down to the concrete ground of Japan.

"I wanna go to an anime convention when we're here!" Joyce yelled out excitedly, when she was the first one to make her way down the steps.

"It'd be nice if we could learn some of the ancient Japanese fighting styles…" Kyn wished out loud when she followed after Joyce.

"And I'll get a chance to learn how to make Japanese cuisine too!" Nick beamed.

"I heard Japan is into baseball" Lucian walked down after his boss, carrying onto his luggage along with his trusty bat.

"There's a ton of shopping that can be done here." Praizel said with a gleam in her eyes.

"Manga! I'm sure Japan is filled with some awesome Manga to read!" Ange uttered happily.

"Since Japan is known for its high tech electronics… that means that there are so many video games that could be bought! And I'm sure these games will be sold a lot cheaper here than in Italy!" Felix said with zeal.

"I can probably find some good Japanese literature to read." Shantel said. "Though I have to learn how to read Japanese kanji first… or get the English translated versions."

"Easy there guys don't get too ahead of yourself." Cheri grinned, seeing how excited the Verdura family was. "First of all I have to teach you guys to get accustomed to the Japanese culture and daily life."

"Listen to what she has to say." A dark voice uttered. Rinan was the last person to get out of the jet and she was carrying her 2 suitcases that looked very heavy; though she carried them as if they were as light as feathers.

After all of the Verdura famiglia got off the jet, the pilot was given permission to fly off. It was around afternoon when they arrived to Japan, and so they all stood in one spot, figuring out what to do next.

"So Nick, where are we supposed to head to now?" Kyn asked her boss.

"Uh- honestly I don't know." the sky user looked nervous, realizing that he hadn't thought about that.

"We have to head to the airport and meet up with the Ninja family," Rinan announced.

Lucian's honey colored eyes then lit, up hearing the name of his past famiglia; this made him speak up in front of the group, something he rarely had done.

"Let's go then, they've probably been waiting for us." He said calmly.

"Where exactly is this airport though?" Shantel asked.

"Oh, it's right there," Cheri pointed out to a direction.

Everybody squinted to look in the direction that was pointed out by their tutor. At a distance, there were infrastructures that resembled an airport, and they could all hear the planes flying overhead them landing down at the clearing area.

"You mean we have to walk that far?!" Joyce complained. "But I don't wanna walk! My legs feel like jelly after being on the jet for hours."

"We have no choice," Cheri began to walk, leading the way.

Some of the Verdura family groaned at the idea of having to walk almost half a mile while carrying their numerous amount of luggage. Since they were going to stay in Japan for several months, it was natural for them to carry many of their belongings, such as all of their clothing and miscellaneous items.

"Can't we use open some of our box animals to get to carry our stuff?" Ange suggested. "I know my dove can't carry anything but I know Kyn's wolf and Nick's liguar can do it."

"Sorry, no." Nick shook his head. "It'll look very conspicuous if we get caught with animals holding onto our stuff."

"Yeah, I'm sure the Japanese cops would stop us and think that we're terrorists with dangerous animals that threaten the country." Kyn sarcastically added.

The one walking the quickest towards the awaited destination was the Verdura sun guardian. He could not wait any longer to see his previous famiglia, and his face changed to a determined expression .

* * *

"Gah we made it!" Joyce cheered aloud although she was exhausted.

The rest of her famiglia members were exhausted after walking for nearly 20 minutes and carrying their heavy luggage. The only members that did not look tired were Rinan, Lucian, Kyn, and Nick. This was because Rinan had abnormal strength, Lucian was on the edge of anxiety, Kyn and Nick had tough training from their arcobaleno tutors so they were used to carrying heavy weights.

Lucian opened the doorway like a gentlemen, letting his famiglia walk inside first.

The Verdura all walked orderly into the airport, letting their eyes explore their new surroundings. Lucian's eyes were focused on looking for where the Ninja famiglia would be… it would probably take forever until they met each other because of how large the airport was.

"Hey guys!" A voice called out

"Huh? Did you hear someone call us?" Nick said as he heard the voice.

"Uh- you must be hearing things" Kyn told him.

"Hey over here!" A shout calls after them, though this time it was multiple voices calling out.

"I think I'm starting to hear things too" Kyn noticed the voices calling out.

All of the Verdura begin to stop and turn their heads in various directions, looking for where the voices were coming from.

"Are you guys deaf or something!"

The Verdura turned their attention to the direction where the shouts came from; it was somewhere to the left and they saw a certain person waving to them.

Kaitlin, the head of the Ninja family was waving her hand in the air, signaling to the Verdura. The rest of the Ninja family was spotted besides her.

Lucian's eyes beamed even brighter as he saw the Ninja family.

"Kaitlin… everybody…" he muttered as he was walking towards them with the rest of his famiglia.

"About time you guys got here." Rovina smiled. "We've been waiting here for nearly an hour!"

"Sorry about that," Nick spoke out loud. "We uh- kinda had a delay with our flight."

"What he means to say is that it was his fault that we missed the plane flight so we had to call in a jet to take us here." Kyn explained, smirking. "But it's alright boss, we all still love you."

"Gee thanks Kyn." The sky Verdura uttered silently.

"Wow the Verdura sure has expanded!" Milly pointed out when she saw how many more Verdura family members there were from the last time she met them.

"Ahaha yeah we sure have." The Verdura boss chuckled.

"L-lucian!" Kaitlin rushed straight at him and gave him a hug. He had been standing in the back behind his fellow family members since he was a bit nervous to approach the Ninja family.

"Oh my goodness why didn't you say something to us when you got over here!" the friendly Alfred joined his boss and they both hugged Lucian. Quickly after the rest of the Ninja famiglia were all giving Lucian a giant group hug.

"Talk about feeling the love in here…" Felix remarked. "Who knew that our own Lucian was such a popular guy."

"He was once the boss of their famiglia," Kyn told the monkey tailed boy. "That's what Nick told me."

"Wonder why he chose to become a guardian of a different family rather than stay with the Ninja as their boss?" The rain Verdura said aloud.

"Beats me."

After 10 seconds of group hugs, the Ninja and the Verdura sun let go of their embrace.

"It's been so long!" Kaitlin beamed.

"I know it has been." Lucian said with a smile on his face, a rare expression that was seen on him.

For the next several minutes, Lucian was animatedly chatting his with former family members, asking each other how they were doing, and if anything new had happened to them.

Nick and Kaitlin formerly introduced their famiglia members to other family, with both sides politely bowing back or showing some friendly gesture.

"Nice to see you all again." Rinan spoke out for the first time, and she gave a grin, though not just any ordinary grin, it was a devious one.

Upon hearing her voice, the relaxed Ninja family suddenly straightened up and displayed a defensive aura.

"What's going on?" Cheri looked a bit frightened when she felt the sudden shift in the atmosphere.

"I see that you're doing well…" Rinan's eyes were scanning all the Ninja members. "Auguste." She now turned her attention directly towards the boy with the round glasses.

Auguste stood up even straighter and took several paces back behind Kaitlin.

"This sure isn't awkward at all…" Kyn mumbled sarcastically.

She had also heard from Nick about the time that Rinan had kidnapped Auguste. The Ninja family was known for their expertise in obtaining information and being professional assassins, hence is why their famiglia name is Ninja. Rinan always wanted information about hidden knowledge or anything secretive, so she demanded it from their famiglia. The Ninja were sworn to never reveal their secrets or anything highly classified so they turned down her requests. To spite them, she had kidnapped one of their members and held him for ransom. Rinan promised to give back Auguste if she acquired the information she wanted. Thankfully it was Nick that had cleared out that entire mess, allowing for Auguste to safely return back to his family while the Ninja did not have to reveal any of their secrets.

"Don't worry I'm not here to demand anything from you guys." Rinan stated coldly. "I can't do anything while my famiglia is with me and I have more important matters to worry about." In reality, she was deviously planning a way to get what she wanted without getting caught or alerting anyone else.

Hearing this, the Ninja dropped their tense aura and returned back to being welcoming and kind.

"So we better take you guys to your new mansion then?" Kaitlin told the Verdura.

"We get a mansion?!?" Most of the Verdura family exclaimed.

"Sweet, I hope we get a pool too!" Felix said excitedly.

"It's winter right now, so the water would be frozen." Lucian pointed out.

"Darn you had to be a kill joy!" the rain Verdura grumbled.

"We also have several cars so there's enough rides to take everybody to the mansion." Ludwigan added. "Also did you know that you guys are our neighbors?"

Hearing this, Lucian smiled again, not only was he able to see his Ninja famiglia once today, but he could practically see them every day seeing how they would live right next door.

* * *

"Ahhh we're finally here." Alfred announced as he stopped the van in front of the Verdura mansion. The other 4 cars stopped at the side walk and everybody got out, reviewing the infrastructure. Each of the Verdura family members stared in amazement

"… whoa…"

"…Awesome...!"

"… Is this really ours?"

"… It's so huge!"

"… I didn't know that the Verdura family could afford this too."

"…"

Kaitlin and the rest of the Ninja family chuckled at the other family's reactions.

"Geez it's like you guys have never seen a Japanese home."

All 15 people walked to the front entrance of the mansion, this time, the Ninja family were there to help the Verdura carry their bulky luggage… the front yard itself was very Japanese, with the bonsai trees, a pond with a stone bridge over it, multiple stones artistically arranged, and more plants that gave the area a relaxing peaceful atmosphere.

"If this is the front yard, I can't wait to see what the back yard looks like!" Joyce said zealously.

"Oh yeah I forgot to tell you guys." Milly said aloud. "The Polpo family was able to furnish the house, so all of the chairs, beds, couches, tables, and any other furniture piece have been already arranged and set up."

"Oh how nice of them." Kyn beamed.

"Though they expect you guys to pay them for their services and the money they spent buying all of the furniture…" Milly added.

"… Oh, never mind…" The Verdura storm mumbled.

After the Ninja family carefully placed the Verdura's luggage on the ground, they were ready to go back to their mansion .

"See you guys later, we have some business to attend to." Kaitlin waved goodbye. She then handed Nick the key to the mansion.

"Hope to talk to you all later!" Most of the Verdura family waved back to them too.

Lucian kindly nodded to them all bye and hid his grin.

When the Ninja family departed from them, Nick had taken the liberty of opening the door by using the key he had gotten from the Ninja boss.

"Wait a minute…" Rinan broke the silence. "Milly said that the Polpo family went in here before right? Then that means that person was here too!"

What Rinan said clicked immediately into the Verdura females' minds as they raced into the mansion and instantly dropped their luggage on the wooden floor.

"Wait, what's gotten into all of you?" Felix asked when he rushed inside the house too.

"That pervert was in here!" Rinan's voice grew darker. "That means he must've set something up."

"Uh- you're just being a bit too paranoid…" Nick sweat dropped.

"No we're not!" All of the girls screamed in unison.

Kyn instantly lit up her Verdura ring and placed it in the hole of one of her box weapons. And out came the metal pole Equinox with its bright storm flames.

"Let's go search throughout the entire house and look for any secret spy cameras." Rinan ordered .

"Yes ma'am!" All of the girls immediately split up and scurried around the house, searching every nook and cranny for possible cameras. Even Cheri was caught up in this searching fervor and joined them.

"Now they're just being a bit too over the edge…" All of the boys uttered.

* * *

The boys sat down on the couches in the living room with the giant screen TV, watching the baseball game.

Lucian watched with interest along with Felix, both talking enthusiastically about the sport as Nick rested his eyes. The Verdura boss was anxious at the idea of meeting with the powerful Vongola family, knowing that his family's rank was nothing compared to theirs. The Verdura family, though having strong members, was one of the lowest ranking families in the alliance. It was a mystery to any outsiders to why this family chose to stay in the shadows… because if their true strength was shown, their rank would be significantly higher.

"Okay, now we're certain that there aren't any secret cameras around here." Kyn announced as she and the rest of the Verdura females walked into the living room. Their entire search had taken 30 minutes, since the mansion was so large and there were various places that could hide potential cameras. They had searched in all of the bathrooms, closet rooms, and even under tables and chairs… except for…

"Let's go check out our rooms and unpack." Kyn suggested as she carried her luggage up the stairs.

All of the girls followed suit, with Rinan still looking paranoid, her eyes peering at every corner of every step she took.

* * *

Each of the rooms had the names of each of the Verdura members labeled on the front door, so it made it simple to decide who would get which room.

"Wow, the Polpo family sure went out of their way to even designate us rooms." Praizel remarked.

"Must be for some hidden motive." Rinan stated while still scouting. "The only places the girls and I didn't check were the rooms, because we had to respect everyone's privacy…" She walked further down the hall way to where her name label was at. Apparently her room was the one furthest away from everyone else's .

The rest of the Verdura members proceeded to walk into their assigned rooms and were fairly pleased with how the Polpo arranged the furniture and all the details.

"I think I'll like this place," Kyn smirked as she laid down on her soft bed and placed her pole on the ground .

'I better search for if there is anything suspicious here later on.'

"WHAT IN THE WORLD?!"

The Verdura family members all hear the scream coming down from the furthest room down the hallway and quickly bolted out of their rooms and went towards the direction of the scream. Kyn grabbed onto her pole as she ran with the rest of her famiglia and saw that the letters 'R' 'I' 'N' 'A' 'N' at the front of the door.

"Rinan's room!" Everyone exclaimed as Lucian and Nick opened her door and everybody was prepared to react to the mysterious situation that made their hail guardian scream.

To their wildest belief, Rinan was in no way in danger… but her room was definitely out of this world. Pink… bright colors were the theme of the room. The bed sheets and pillows happened to be pink, the window curtains were bright purple, and even the carpet was unbelievably girly colored.

"…" The Verdura members gawked at every detail in Rinan's room, thinking that somebody had a death wish to do this. "Oh dear. Gosh…"

The final touch to this girly masterpiece, the walls had been colored light purple and designs of bright yellow suns, pink clouds, bright green fields of grass, images of dancing flowers and cute bunnies appeared everywhere… it was a complete unholy masterpiece.

Rinan turned her head and saw everyone staring. "Get out of my room! NOW!" she gave a death glare.

That sent a chill down everyone's spine so they instantly shut the door and walked back down the hallway.

"What do you think will happen to the room?" Cheri wondered.

"It'll probably get destroyed, mutilated, torched, taken apart, hammered, ripped, flooded, or maybe she could just repaint over everything." Felix answered, sniggering. "I can't believe that Mariano would be that bold to do that to her."

"I have to admit… that guy really does want to get her pissed off or get killed." Kyn sighed. "Though I've still gotta check my room for anything weird."

"Same here." The other Verdura girls uttered

"Is it healthy for you girls to be so paranoid?" Nick asked, concerned.

"Hey, you're not the one who might potentially be getting their privacy invaded!" All the girls retorted back. Cheri had simply gone along with the girls in their mad quest to find anything suspicious but she had been told enough about the Polpo boss to even start become paranoid.

* * *

The situation with Rinan's room was easily solved with Rinan and Joyce agreeing to switch rooms. The Thunder guardian was more than happy to take the offer since she loved the girly designs that were etched on the walls. The girls also had another thorough inspection of each other's room and so it was concluded that there was no form of suspicious cameras or devices planted anywhere in the mansion.

"Looks like you girls wasted almost an hour searching for something that wasn't really there." Felix smirked. The Verdura family was now resting in the living room after their long day. Each of them was laying down on a couch or a comfy chair.

His smirk would was taken back when he received dangerous glares from all of the girls.

"So what's for dinner?" Shantel asked everybody.

Nick and Kyn both got up. "Looks like we're gonna cook up whatever is in the fridge." Nick responded, smiling.

"Thankfully the Polpo also provided us with fresh ingredients and extra food"! Kyn added.

The two of them walked off into the kitchen and Nick's eyes beamed when he entered. This was the kitchen of any chef's dream, with a powerful oven, large space, numerous upon numerous numbers of pots and pans, expensive high quality cooking utensils ready to be used… along with other miscellaneous additions.

"Let's start cooking up a feast!" Nick said heartily as he opened the refrigerator.

"You know all of these equipments and utensils are coming right out of the Verdura family's account?" Kyn told her boss.

The Verdura boss did not pay attention to what she had just said and began to hum a song to himself while whipping something together in a new bowl.

The right hand woman sighed but smiled contently after seeing her boss working merrily and started to put some ingredients together for their feast.

* * *

The rest of the Verdura family were occupying themselves with their own activities… Felix and Joyce were competing against each other with their DSi this time. Cheri, Rinan, Shantel, and Praizel were reading their books… there was one member however that wasn't occupying himself in the mansion.

Lucian had walked outside of the mansion, looking at the night sky and the brilliantly bright moon. He smirked to himself.

"It's very nice tonight" he muttered as he looked to his right, where he saw the mansion the Ninja famiglia were residing at. To his left, it was another mansion, except for it was unoccupied since there was a 'For Sale' sign positioned at the front yard.

The Verdura sun guardian looked at every intricate detail of the mansion's Japanese front yard, admiring each aesthetic aspect of it. He truly felt at peace.

* * *

It was about an hour later when dinner was ready. Everybody had developed an appetite after all of the events that had happened today, so they were anticipating what their boss and famiglia right hand had cooked up.

"Dinner is served!" Nick and Kyn entered the dining room holding onto plates of food.

"Bring on the grub!" Most of the Verdura exclaimed enthusiastically.

That night was like any usual Verdura family dinner. There were animate conversations involving several of topics, which were either random or just plain out humorous. Joyce was her usual hyper self, who was restrained by her 'mother' Rinan. Rinan only spoke out or did anything out of the ordinary when it involved disciplining Joyce or saying something dark. Shantel and Praizel were usually quiet during meal times chuckling every once and a while when somebody said something absurd or made a joke. Felix was the one who was making the jokes and bragged about the items that he had stolen in the past few days. He was usually met by Kyn's scolding, who did not like how he was into thievery and threatened to whack him upside the head if he ever stole anything from her. Nick, the Verdura boss, sitting at the head seat listened to all of the conversations and added his own opinions when necessary and was often the one being made fun of for being a 'house dad'. Ange would also fool around too, adding onto the jokes intermittently, and at other times be 'emo' and stay quiet. Cheri, the new addition to the Verdura family, had been very amused by their antics and how they all interacted with each other. She did not really speak out during the dinner was loved to laugh at anything amusing. Lucian was silent throughout the entire time as he was still thinking… he was considered to be the one who spent too much of his time being pensive.

No family ranking could determine the bonding of this family… nothing could rank how spontaneous or crazy the Verdura were… it didn't matter to them that they were considered to be of low rank. It was their friendship that kept them happy and close.

* * *

**Head (Dead) Author's Notes:**

Sorry for the late post guys! ^ ^; The head author is still on the loose!

Psss… Nick… She's not a criminal… Don't use on the loose…

Er… Ops… ^ ^; Anyway the letter that was attached the draft that she sent us said…

"1'11 83 84ck d0n'7 100k 4 m3, m4k3 5ur3 u 5t111 r34d 7h353 n0735, 7h3y'r3 g00d 4 u, k33p upd471ng u 57up1d, c1um5y, h0u53 d4d, f1y1ng f41ry, 6r1d3 b055, like I said I'll be back alright?"

Why is it in a code! Sent us a proper letter! It's like you're a criminal!

"I'll be back don't look for me," Uh… *attempting to decode*Gahhhh! So much to decode T.T "Keep updating you stupid clumsy house dad flying fairy something boss… Make sure you something read… They're good for you…" What if she did break a law? I mean she hit you on the head with a chair…

… O.O HEAD AUTHOR! WHAT CRIME DID YOU COMMIT!

HEY! HEY! LOOK P.S NOTE!

"P.5. U 1d1075 1 d1dn'7 c0mm17 4ny 50r7 0f cr1m3 2 m4k3 m3 h1d3 fr0m 7h3 p011c3."

"P.S You idiot I didn't commit any sort of crime to make me hide from the police…"

… How did she know…?


End file.
